The narrator tells us that he's not in love with anyone at the moment, but he does have a crush on Mariko. She's the one for him, he tells us, but she'll have to make her own choice about whether or not she wants to be with him. The narrator says that he thought that he should make his own choice, but that isn't what he'll do. He's sorry, he says, but the choice is his, and he wants to make it his own. He kisses her, and she says that she can't take that. She says that Mariko is training her body to feel Mariko's touch, and that she's going to have to do something to stop it. She tells him that even if he touches her and feels her, she won't stop loving him. Mariko says that even though they're not lovers, their hearts are one big excuse for not loving each other. She doesn't know what she should do, she says.